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This article shows the driving factors of rural women's participation in the TWITEZIMBERE and REKATUJANE rice cooperatives in the GIHANGA commune. These factors are related to the preservation of traditional culture in Burundi in general and in rural areas in particular, where women are in the majority. To achieve this, the research methodology used is both qualitative (individual interviews and documentary research) and quantitative (questionnaire administered to respondents). The results of this research show that traditional culture has forced rural women to stay at home to care for children and perform various household chores. This situation of isolation leads to a lack of information about the benefits of rice-growing cooperatives and the value they can bring to their members. It is also observed that rural women lack the will to adopt the new rice farming practices in Cooperatives. This situation of lack of will to adopt new behavior has hindered the massive participation of rural women in rice cooperatives. Finally, the article emphasizes that the illiteracy of these rural women and the lack of external technical and financial support are considered other important factors that constituted the barriers to their massive participation in rice cooperatives. To deal with this series of problems, the researcher has discovered strategies that can encourage rural women to participate massively in rice cooperatives, in particular, to become members of rice cooperatives that help their members to make them known and receive external technical and financial support, for example, incentives from the government. For this, the Government must therefore help them by providing multifaceted support including local and foreign technical and financial partners. Similarly, cooperative leaders might seek out various donors for their agricultural cooperative associations.

Heterotopic gastric mucosa (HGM) is an islet of gastric mucosa within the esophageal mucosa. These lesions can sit throughout the digestive tract and rarely in the upper third of the esophagus. The pathophysiology of HGM remains poorly understood. Our study aims to estimate the prevalence of HGM, clinical signs, endoscopic, microscopic aspects and different epidemiological factors associated. All patients from a single endoscopy center with HGM of the upper third of the esophagus were included over a 5-month evaluation period. All lesions seen in endoscopy were confirmed by histological analysis. The prevalence was 1.3% with a clear male predominance. 80% of patients were symptomatic and received medical treatment, clinical evolution was good. No case of dysplasia was identified and no complication was observed. Due to insufficient data in the evolutionary literature, the management of HGM remains debated and could resemble that of Barett’s esophagus for monitoring and therapeutic management, particularly in the event of symptoms or dysplasia.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by high morbidity, high recurrence, and high mortality rates. In China, the morbidity of HCC is fifth among all malignant tumors and HCC is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths. Most HCC patients also have liver cirrhosis. Surgery is the sole curative method for HCC; however, many patients are diagnosed with HCC during its advanced stages so radical resection can no longer be performed. Therefore, the proportion of patients who undergo radical hepatectomy is less than 30%. Patients with mildly advanced HCC cannot undergo hepatectomy and thus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and/or biological targeted therapy are alternative options. However, data on the effects of TACE therapy or biological targeted therapy are limited. Therefore, an investigation of multimodal and individualized treatments is critical to ensure the best treatment. In June 2018, we treated an advanced HCC patient with multiple metastases and right portal vein tumor thrombus. The patient exhibited partial remission after undergoing treatment with TACE and crizotinib capsules for 1 month. The case and a literature review are reported here.

Background: Because of a possible risk of induction of Ventricular Fibrillation (VF) by defibrillation of atrial fibrillation (AF) postulated by LOWN and coworkers, synchronized cardioversion is used worldwide. This prospective, randomized study assessed the efficacy and safety between R-wave controlled cardioversion and defibrillation of AF at 2 study centers in Cologne, Germany. Hypothesis: Defibrillation is not significantly different from cardioversion primarily in the occurrence of VF or sustained Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) and secondarily in restoring sinus rhythm, inducing non-sustained VT, asystole, or bradycardia.Methods: 146 patients at an outpatient practice and 122 at the university hospital were randomized to cardioversion (n = 140) or defibrillation (n = 124).Results: Cardioversion was successful in 92.1% of cases and defibrillation in 87.1%. The difference in efficacy was not statistically significant. In n = 1 patients receiving defibrillation, VF occurred after the first shock (200J) and immediate defibrillation (200J) restored sinus rhythm. In the n = 1 case, asystole occurred during cardioversion which terminated spontaneously. In n = 1 patients cardioverted and n = 2 who were defibrillated, sinus bradycardia occurred requiring Atropine in two cases. There were no thromboembolic events within 10 days. N = 9 patients reverted to AF within two hours. No patients died. Conclusion: Electrical conversion of AF can be performed with similar results and low risk with both R-wave-triggered cardioversion and defibrillation. In particular, defibrillation with higher energies (> 100J) can be performed as effectively and safely without a statistically significant increased risk of VF or VT. There was no difference in efficacy and risk between electrotherapy performed in the outpatient and inpatient settings.

Introduction: Minimal change disease (MCD) is a common subtype of primary nephrotic syndrome in adults. The pathogenesis of MCD is still not well understood, but some studies suggest that MCD is a T cell-mediated disease related to podocyte dysfunction. Previous research has also indicated the crucial role of B cells in the pathogenesis of MCD. Rituximab (RTX) is a recombinant chimeric mouse/human antibody targeting CD20 antigen. In recent years, RTX has been increasingly used in adult MCD patients.Methodology: We searched the PubMed database using the keywords “Minimal change disease”, “Nephrotic syndrome”, and “Rituximab” and obtained a total of 140 articles. We will now provide a literature review based on these 140 articles, according to our research topic.Discussion: This article provides an overview of the mechanisms and clinical research progress of RTX in the treatment of adult MCD. We have also discussed the current treatment methods for MCD, exploring the potential of using RTX as a first-line therapy for refractory adult MCD.Conclusion: MCD is a common pathological type of nephrotic syndrome, and the exact mechanisms are still not fully understood. Although RTX as a treatment of adult MCD has shown promising clinical results in patients with refractory adult MCD, the safety and efficacy of RTX still lack high-quality clinical evidence. Further research is needed to explore the pathogenesis of MCD and the RTX treatment for MCD.

Due to the adverse environmental impacts of synthetic plastics, biodegradable plastics development for both industrial and commercial applications is essential for the present scenario. In addition to the non-degradability of petroleum-based plastic and its impacts, so it is very important to find an alternative to petroleum-based plastic. Starch-based bioplastics are an excessive substitute for petroleum-based plastics due to their significant properties compared with natural sources. This research aims to formalize five new formulas of bioplastic by combining two sources of starch, extracted from various biomass sources, its properties and comparison between them. The moisture content shows 2.07% and 0.984% for samples F and B respectively and that indicates that the samples which contain a high amount of corn starch have less moisture content. The highest results of biodegradation percentages were 68.27% and 52.6% which are for samples A and D respectively, and the lowest biodegradation percentage were 34.33% and 31.29% which are for samples F and B respectively.

Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells (MSCs); which can be isolated from Bone Marrow (BM) in addition to several tissues and body fluids; have the following characteristic features: self-renewal, differentiation into various cell types, plastic adherence, and specific surface markers on flow cytometry [1-3]. 

It was investigated contractility and adrenoreactivity of intact myocardium strips of right ventricular in experiment with 60 rats. They were assessed by the force of induce contraction and its changes under the influence of adrenaline (10-9 or 10-5 g / ml). Found that these indicators do not depend on the phases of the estrous cycle and the presence of pregnancy. Histidine (10-10-10-4 g / ml) did not increase the response to adrenalin (10-9 g / ml), but increased the force of the contractions in rats in progesterone dominance (trend) and pregnancy (statistically significant). Against the background of propranolol (10-8 g / mL) or atenolol (10-8, 10-6 g / mL), adrenaline (10-5 g / mL) instead of increasing the force of contraction reduced it (probably due to activation of beta3-, alpha1 - and alpha1 a2- adrenergic receptors), and histidine (10-4 g / mL) prevented this reduction, but does not restore full ability of adrenaline to exert a positive inotropic effect. On the background of nicergoline (10-8 g / mL or nicergoline and propranolol (10-8 g / mL), adrenaline (10-5 g / mL) did not alter the force of contraction, and histidine (10-4 g/mL) restore ability of adrenaline to exert a positive inotropic effect but only in the experiments with nicergoline. Concluded that histidine increases the efficiency of the activation of all three (beta1-, beta2- and beta3-) populations of myocardial beta-adrenoceptoprs, including at lower by adrenergic blockers. Therefore, histidine proposed as an antagonist of beta-adrenergic blockers and as resensitizator of these receptors. Core Tip: In the experiments with strips of the right ventricle of 40 nonpregnant and 20 pregnant rats histidine (10-10-10-4 g /mL) did not increase the response to adrenaline (10-9 g / ml), but increased the force of contractions in pregnant rats. On the background of propranolol (10-8 g / mL) or atenolol (10-8, 10-6 g / mL), adrenaline (10-5g/mL) showed a negative inotropic effect, and histidine (10-4 g / mL) prevented it, but does not restore the ability of adrenaline to show positive inotropic effect,. i.e histidine exhibits the properties of the antagonist of beta-blockers and of resensitizator of beta-adrenoceptors

Myocardial infarction is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The overall aim of the study was to evaluate community awareness about myocardial infarction.It was a community-based cross-sectional study conducted during one month including both male and female participants aged 18 years and over in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The percentage of awareness for risk factors was as follows: Diabetes (56.4%), Hypertension (43.4%), Elderly (42.1%), Obesity (39.8%), Physical inactivity (38.5%), Hyperlipidemia (37.6%), and Family history (33.8%). Furthermore, knowledge about symptoms and signs was as the following: chest pain (67.4%), pain in neck and jaw (57.8%), Dyspnea (50.7%), pain in arms (46.1%), weakness/fainting (40.1%), cold sweats (38.2%), nausea and vomiting (34.5%), anxiety (29.6%), fever (22.7%), hypotension/shock (20.1%), and silent myocardial infarction (11.3%). Moreover, 24% of participants did not know about the prevention strategies for myocardial infarction. Regarding treatment, 80.3% of participants exactly knew to go to the emergency room, 11.9% of participants would intend to go to a general practitioner (GP), 5.6% of participants would ask others for advice on what to do, and 2.2% of participants would wait to see if the symptoms go away spontaneously or if the symptoms were due to other diseases. The current awareness level about myocardial infarction especially atypical symptoms, risk factors, prevention, and treatment strategies in Nangarhar residents was insufficient, especially in females and healthy individuals, and warrants designing and implementing immediate awareness programs in order to avoid delay of treatment-seeking, misbeliefs about the disease and subsequent morbidity and mortality.

A highly focused and highly cost-effective failure-oriented-accelerated-testing (FOAT) suggested about a decade ago as an experimental basis of the novel probabilistic design for reliability (PDfR) concept is intended to be carried out at the design stage of a new electronic packaging technology and when high operational reliability (like the one required, e.g., for aerospace, military, or long-haul communication applications) is a must. On the other hand, burn-in-testing (BIT) that is routinely conducted at the manufacturing stage of almost every IC product is also of a FOAT type: it is aimed at eliminating the infant mortality portion (IMP) of the bathtub curve (BTC) by getting rid of the low reliability “freaks” prior to shipping the “healthy” products, i.e., those that survived BIT, to the customer(s). When FOAT is conducted, a physically meaningful constitutive equation, such as the multi-parametric Boltzmann-Arrhenius-Zhurkov (BAZ) model, should be employed to predict, from the FOAT data, the probability of failure and the corresponding useful lifetime of the product in the field, and, from the BIT data, as has been recently demonstrated, - the adequate level and duration of the applied stressors, as well as the (low, of course) activation energies of the “freaks”. Both types of FOAT are addressed in this review using analytical (“mathematical”) predictive modeling. The general concepts are illustrated by numerical examples. It is concluded that predictive modeling should always be conducted prior to and during the actual testing and that analytical modeling should always complement computer simulations. Future work should be focused on the experimental verification of the obtained findings and recommendations.